Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Do I own the dog or does it own me?

Let me tell you the situation. We got our dog when she was about 6 weeks old. Cute, Cuddly, sweet. She got big very quickly. She is now about 67 pounds. I got her for free from a yard sale. The woman told me she was full German Shepherd...she is not. She is probably part lab.We trained her to sleep in a kennel at night time because I didn't want a 60 pound dog sleeping in the beds with us.She spends a lot of time outside because when I am home the kids do not want her jumping on them, knocking them over, or licking their faces. Not to mention knocking over any drink we might have on the coffee table with her giant tail. If I am not here I don't want her to spend the entire day cooped up in the kennel. She has the entire yard to run around in, she is not chained to a tree. She does not have a dog house but she always has water. We have a deck that has shade and is completely screened in. So, it is kind of like she has a giant dog house on our back porch. She gets fed twice a day and eats table scraps too. She is also up to date on all of her shots and she is spayed.

She really does need to run more than she does but we don't have the time or the energy half the time to do much with her. If it is raining or extra cold or extra hot we do let her in the house. We have some kind of chew toy ready for her so she doesn't destroy the kids toys.

When she is outside she wears a bark collar because our neighbors are all very close to us. But, she is not the only dog in the neighborhood and she certainly is not the dog that barks the most. For the record I hate barking dogs and every one of them in the neighborhood would be wearing a collar if I got ahold of them.

We have talked a lot about getting rid of her. She is not a child, we would like to have more time to spend with her but our kids need our attention first. She needs more room to run and someone that will run her. It stresses me out to go out of town because I have to find someone to watch her and I have one neighbor who won't because they think she is too much to handle. I think it is because they think we are not good pet owners.

I know she just wants to be loved and played with. What do you think? Should we get rid of her somehow (and if so can you give me some suggestions other than the pound), or do you think she has a good enough life?

3 comments:

ooh, tough call! We always debate this, but decided to really keep them. I still look at homeless dogs and part of me wonders, "aww, could we do one more?" Plus, we were dog free for about a month when I was missing them. Dogs are just ingrained in us. We don't give ours tons of attention either, but days are coming when the kids will give them more. When they calm down too! :) I never had a dog growing up and was determined to give our kids that experience. I do love them - in spite of their inconveniences! But, I've heard of others getting rid of them to a good home and being so FREE!

I'm going to be checking back to see the comments you get on this post. We have a cat that I feel like we need to part with. It is a hard call and then to find something other than the pound for them can be difficult.Is there anyone in your neighborhood who would take her?

Our dog Max is also crate trained, stays in while we're gone, runs around our back yard, drives us crazy, whaps us with his tail, lays his head in our laps BEGGING us to play...but the deal is, he's a lover. He's a people dog. He rarely gets walked because he pulls crazy hard and also whines like a little girl the whole time. All this to say, he'd rather (I'm convinced) spend his days just hanging out with us and getting the occasional game of fetch or a pat here and there than to be anywhere else. We're his family. He eats well, he's healthy, he isn't destructive in a way that would indicate that he's bored or unhappy. He gets left occasionally with another family who have 3 dogs of their own and gets spoiled and taken to the dog park and all that jazz, but he misses us and doesn't eat much till he's back with us again. I look at him and think, he maybe COULD have a better life, but hey, which one of us has a perfect life? After all, he's a DOG. He eats better than most of the world. :)

We occasionally joke about dropping him off out China Hat Road (forest service land) but when push comes to shove, he may be a crazy doofy mixed-up needy dog, but he's our dog and this is his home.